(The seventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) kicks off in the United Arab Emirates with the first match at Abu Dhabi. Both Mumbai Indians (MI) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have won the trophy in the past and would want to start the season well. Catch Live Scores and Live Updates of the match here)

And Morne has his vengeance! He bounced, Rohit tried an encore, and Kallis took a stumbling catch at deep mid-wicket. Will this guy ever age?

OUT! Rohit c Kallis b Morkel 27(20)!

It seemed Rohit was waiting for that. Morne bowled one just short of good length, and Rohit smoked him over mid-wicket into the stands.

MI 95/2 (15)Rayudu 43(37), Rohit 21(18)

That, as they say, has missed everything. Narine tosses one up, Rayudu gives it the almighty heave, and misses it completely. Four byes for MI.

Once again, it’s Sunil Narine time. Remember, he can bowl three out of the six overs left.

MI 83/2 (14)Rayudu 40(33), Rohit 19(16)

Quality bowling from Morne out there. He has been fast, accurate, and has generated steep bounce off a length. The spinners have supported him beautifully. The KKR bowlers have done an excellent job here.

An encore.

Rayudu moves across the line goes for the almighty something-slog; it’s always difficult to do these things against Morkel. A dot.

What a finish from Suryakumar! He just took the MI asking rate past the 8-mark. Kallis and Manish had an excellent partnership, but Malinga’s excellent death-bowling pegged them back till Suryakumar played that cameo. Can KKR defend the target on this pitch?

A lofted off-drive from Kallis: it was never a catch, but trust Corey to come up with something spectacular as he dives to take one inches from the ground. A fitting end to an excellent innings.

OUT! Kallis c Anderson b Malinga 72(45)!

Here’s Yusuf.

KKR 144/3 (18)Kallis 72(45)

Robin goes for the big one but cannot get it right. Zak’s last ball is a slower delivery, Robin mistimes it completely, and Rohit takes an easy catch.

OUT! Uthappa c Rohit b Zaheer 1(2)!

… and Rohit stops a scorcher there…

Kallis treats Zak with utter disdain there. He simply swats him across the line for a four, no, a six, no, a four, is it a four or a six? It has hit the ropes, so Billy rules it a six!

Zak to bowl out here.

Uthappa or Yusuf? Looks like it’s Robin.

KKR 135/2 (17)Kallis 64(41)

Another Malinga yorker, slightly slow, and there goes Manish’s off-stump. Completely uprooted. If perfectly executed, a Malinga yorker is a sight for sore eyes…

OUT! Manish b Malinga 64(53)!

An leg-glance there from Manish as the ball rushes past CMG. Four leg-byes.

Whoa! Where did that come from? Malinga attempts a yorker, and clean as a whistle goes Manish’s slog past mid-wicket, over the fence!

They’re back. It’s Malinga…

KKR 125/1 (16)Kallis 64(41), Pandey 58(47)

A 15-run over to follow a 20-run one. Things can only get better for KKR from here. Kallis looks ominous, and Pandey is not too bad either. The good thing for MI is the fact that they have managed to bowl out the fifth bowler. Yet another strategic time-out now.

Kallis goes big again. That one from Pollard disappeared past square-leg. Four more!

Pollard bowls on the leg-stump, Kallis goes down on one knee, and plays it smartly past Gautam. Malinga never had a chance.

KKR 110/1 (15)Kallis 54(37), Pandey 53(45)

TWENTY runs off that over. TWENTY. Ojha’s figures have gone for a toss. This is probably when KKR will open up. Kallis has suddenly started to look ominous with a four and two sixes!

Kallis plays his trademark slog-sweep! The ball soars between deep mid-wicket and deep square-leg for another six!

Ojha tosses it up, and it’s HUMONGOUS! Kallis’ shot disappears over wide long-on! Is this when they explode?

KKR 90/1 (14)Kallis 35(32), Pandey 52(44)

An excellent fifty from Pandey there. The base has been built: all they need to do from here is to break loose and make use of the remaining overs. Let us see where they go from here.

Rohit brings on Pollard. He somehow needs to get two overs out of his way.

KKR 86/1 (13)

Barring that bouncer, once again an excellent over from Lasith, restricting the batsmen to singles. All four bowlers have been bowling brilliantly, but Rohit has the fifth bowler issue to deal with…

Malinga bounces; you cannot bounce at Kallis, he has been facing Steyn and Morne in the nets until recently. A well-placed hook beats Zak’s valiant dive.

KKR 78/1 (12)Kallis 28(26), Pandey 47(38)

MI clearly the better team here. The spinners are doing an excellent job, taking the pace off and restricting the batsmen to singles and dot-balls. They have been supporting Zak and Malinga well. The chink, as mentioned befire, remains to be Corey.

Bhajji tosses one up slightly, and Pandey goes big! Past long-on for four!

KKR 69/1 (11)Kallis 27(25), Pandey 40(35)

Ojha has pulled things back a bit after that boundary. He has been bowling slow intentionally, and the batsmen have found things hard to go from the first over.

KKR has started to open up, and guess what, it’s the strategic timeout. What fun!

That is a Kallis-special (or ispeshal, as they say in Kolkata). Swept Bhajji with disdain for four.

Someone is booing. That may be a KKR supporter.

KKR 44/1 (8)Kallis 14(14), Pandey 27(26)

KKR 37/1 (7)Kallis 8(9), Pandey 26(25)

The surprising bit about the innings is the fact that Kallis has faced only nine balls in the first seven overs. Are KKR missing out on a trick?

Manish Pandey swats the last ball past mid-wicket. That’s another four to break the monotony.

The Powerplay is over. Bhajji on now.

KKR 31/1 (6)Kallis 7(7), Pandey 21(21)

A quiet one there from Ojha. It’s, er, not happening out there for KKR.

Ojha on now. The man who has been shunned by the Indian selectors for all limited-overs cricket.

KKR 28/1 (5)Kallis 6(5), Pandey 19(17)

Zak has sent down three good overs now. He may bowl out here.

Zak gets a third over. This can be interesting…

KKR 20/1 (4)Kallis 4(3), Pandey 15(13)

Pandey ups the momentum there. Well, somewhat.

Manish goes high and straight next ball, yielding a six. Oh well, a Yes Bank Maximum. Some habits do not die.

First four for KKR! Through the mid-wicket!

Huge, huge appeal from Corey! That looked close, but Manish survived.

Here’s Corey Anderson. Rohit has taken Malinga off.

KKR 10/1 (3)Kallis 4(3), Pandey 5(7)

KKR 5/1 (3)Kallis 3(2), Pandey 1(2)

What a strike from Malinga, there. MI certainly on top as KKR has been struggling to score.

Here’s Manish Pandey. Rohit has given Malinga two slips.

KKR 4/1 (1.4)Kallis 3(2)

That’s a bazooka! What a yorker! Gambhir had been struggling, but that would have got any in-form batsman! A Malinga special, there!

OUT! Gambhir b Malinga 0(8)!

Here’s Lasith. World T20-winning captain. Slinga, they call him.

KKR 1/0 (1)Gambhir 0(6), Kallis 0(0)

An excellent over from Zak. Just a single wide. He bowled fast and to a tight line, and troubled Gauti with his accuracy.

KKR open the account with a wide that Gautam collected well down the leg-side.

A few dot-balls there. Gauti looking a tad impatient.

Hussey is still electric on field.

The umpires are equipped with rather strange contraptions across their shoulders.

It’ll be Zak.

Kallis and Gambhir walk out. The stadium is not what you call full.

Marcus Erasmus and Richard Illingworth stride out amidst firecrackers in broad daylight (yes, you have read that right).

While the match is yet to begin, do have a go at our IPL quiz. There is a Rs 500 gift voucher up for the grabs every match. I assume you know all about the Fantasy League, so I will not elaborate on that.

Kolkata Knight Riders have won the toss and have elected to bat first. At the toss Gautam Gambhir said that the four foreign players in the team are Morne Morkel, Jacques Kallis, Sunil Narine and Shakib Al Hasan. Rohit Sharma said they have five batsmen, two all-rounders and four bowlers.

Welcome to CricketCountry’s coverage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014. We are ready to get going with the first game of this edition being played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The defending champions Mumbai Indians take on the previous title holders, Kolkata Knight Riders. The two units have undergone some considerable changes after the big IPL 2014 auction which was held in Bangalore this year. There are of course a few familiar faces in both sides and these teams would bank on them. But, one gets the feeling that it is all about how well a team will gel and advance in this tournament.

I am Abhishek Mukherjee and will take you through this contest. Of course, it is the first game of the season, so there is plenty of excitement and one is more interested to see how well the teams play this season with a revamped roster.